God of War III Remastered is coming to PS4 this July

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Happy 10th birthday God of War! I can’t believe it has already been ten years (almost to this day) since Santa Monica Studio released Kratos out into the wild.

Creating an original game is really hard; it takes a combination of creativity, tenacity, guts, skill, and let’s be honest here, no small amount of total lunacy to imagine and see to the finish an entirely new world. So making an original game that is successful, well, that is just lightning in a bottle, my friends. I believe that David Jaffe did just that when he created and directed the first God of War game.

I joined the Studio later in the development of the first game and had the pleasure of being part of making Kratos who he is today. It all began with Dave’s vision of a brutal mythological world that was equal parts amazing and insane. Then slowly it coalesced with our desire to make the best ‘pick-up-and-play’ action adventure game, seamlessly taking the player to the far reaches of their imagination.

All of this was rolled into the capable hands of one of the most talented development teams I have had the pleasure of working with, the Santa Monica Studio. Together we fought our way to the finish, battling side-by-side (and sometimes even against each other) to reach the finish line and release a game that we all were proud of. As luck would have it, many of you played that game and liked it enough to let us make many incredible entries into the series.

As a fan action adventure and story based games myself, I am forever thankful to Dave Jaffe for the amazing world he created, out of his freaking head. As a professional I owe much of my current career to the opportunity that he andShannon Studstill(now head of Santa Monica Studio) gave me to go on and direct the second game

The story I wrote for God of War II set the stage for an epic finish to the trilogy Dave and I had always imagined: an all out war between the Gods, Titans and our favorite angst-ridden Spartan warrior.

Going into the third game I set to work on a script and game layout that would push the PS3 to its absolute limit. While I did not continue on to direct the game, Stig Assmussen, the badass Art Director on the series, took the helm as Director and continued crafting the game and story to its eventual meteoric heights with creative gravitas and skill, and along with his amazing team created one of the craziest, most bombastic and most visually resplendent entries in the series. Seriously, every time I play through that game I see the unique brand of brilliance the Santa Monica team pours into every game they do.

Imagine if a game like that came out on PS4, right?

Well, thanks to the fine folks at SCE we do not have to imagine anymore because God of War III Remastered is here!

Well, not here yet, but here in the sense that we are announcing it, here. It actually comes out this 15th July and 17th July in the UK.

This action packed thrill ride of a game will take series newcomers and regulars alike on a retina popping thrill ride filled to the absolute brim with 1080p gameplay, silky smooth combat, earth shaking weapons, bosses you simply have to face to believe and an all new new photo mode so you can share those most tender of God of War moments, like stabbing a Minotaur in the frickin face, with your friends and loved ones.

I highly recommend everyone grab a copy and play because whether you are new to the series or Spartan veterans, God of War III Remastered is one damn fine game.

On this glorious day of celebration we are also taking some of the world’s best speed runners and bringing them together under one roof to watch (via twitch stream, whatever the hell that is) them break, exploit and skip all the long hours and hard work the development team put into these games, all in hopes of achieving the fastest completion time!!! HUZZAH!!

Seriously, they can finish the game in less time than it took for us to agree on a dinner order, it’s nuts. You should just watch it.

As much as I loved gow3, I’m not willing to pay more than £20 per remaster. Halo mcc was £40 for 4 games including 1 complete remaking of halo 2 with updated graphics, metro redux was £30 for 2 games with 1 having updated mechanics, last of us was £40 for 1 game.

@blade1003605 Source? If that is correct than damn, wasn’t that GoW Saga for PS3 (GoW 1 + 2 + 3 + psp games) 39.99$ at release?I don’t mind remastered games but to be honest i only bought one, Metro Redux, since i didn’t play LL, it had all the dlc’s for both games and it was TWO games for 40$. Oh well, i’ll buy it whenever gets a 50% (or more) discount…

Can’t agree more. Played Yakuza 1 but wasn’t aware there had been a sequel on PS2. By the time I found out I had already moved to PS3 anyway but would prefer to play Yakuza 2 before starting Yakuza 3 onwards. Even if it was just a digital release only.

I bought ps4 (not having ps3) and I would like to play remastered titles of ps3 hits, the audience for remasters is probably not you,but people like me who are New comers to the PlayStation world. Having said that I don’t believe they should charge full price on remastered version, and I would go as far as offering the remastered version for the owners of the games on PS3 to reward their loyalty. But unfortunately we are living in a greedy world.

I don’t remember filling in that survey that asked why I bought my PS4, and if I would like remasters or not so you can’t vouch for me.

I sold my PS3 long before I bought a PS4 but GoW 3 is one of my favourite games from PS3 so yes, the ability to play this on my PS4 is very welcome indeed and I will buy it, as I would if they decide to release a full GoW collection – which no doubt they will.

Of course new games are also very welcome but since game development costs a lot nowadays I understand that games companies still need to make money in order to fund new games so I have no problem with remasters.

Don’t put everyone in the same pigeon hole. We all have individual preferences and so should be given a choice. I also like indies but you may not – does that mean that they shouldn’t make them as well?

Most of these releases are targeted to people new to the Sony platform I think. Like Microsoft converts and I think that’s fine. More people should be able to play say the Last of Us if they missed out.

I happen to have played a lot of these games and am still interested in updated versions, like Beyond Two Souls.

I just want to know one thing. Are you going to pull some stupid censorship shenanigans on this in Europe? SCEE started going full retard with things like GoW: Ascension and The Last of Us. I absolutely despise censorship – and self-censorship is even worse as it removes all creative and intellectual integrity. I’m sure a lot of people want to know if you’ll butcher God of War III remastered?

Don’t make us people living in sane countries suffer due to the German nanny-government. Or just give them a special nanny-version like in the good old days. Don’t be misers when it comes to pressing regional discs, you’re pulling in enough cash from the PS4/PS+.

this pretty much signals there will be no Uncharted HD collection. they will just port Uncharted 3 and call it a day. well you can screw yourself. i would have brought this as a trilogy but only the third game is stupid. i’ll wait until its free on PS Plus just like all the other lazy last gen ports. yes ports. “remaster” my @ss.

I think the ‘remaster’ – tag should be dropped. It only ends up confusing consumers that seem to confuse it with remakes.

Remaster is honestly just an enhanced and optimized port. So personally I’d just call it ‘God of War III’, except now also available on PS4. That’s just how I’d personally do call it. :) (like GTA V, it isn’t called GTA V ‘remastered’ on PS4, just GTA V)

Ideally all PS3 games would be available on PS4.

If there’s going to be a PS5, please ask the SCE console development to work on compatibility with previous PlayStation (PS4, ideally PS3, PS2, PS1 as well) console games. I can imagine that it’s a bit annoying for people who change their consoles who can’t carry their console games over.

Will the game include new features? And all the previous DLC packs? Including the Deimos Skin? And why didn’t you eventually release the latter for PS3? It required a voucher with the second PSP game but they eventually expired ;)

Can anybody explain why there seems to be quite a lot of demand for remasters?

– If you’ve got a PS4 but never had a PS3, but want to play some PS3 games, but don’t feel like purchasing a PS3 because you already have a console, then I understand. That makes sense.

– If you’ve already played the PS3 game in question, but you’re still asking for a remaster, I don’t really understand that. Why craving to play games you’ve already played when there are so many games out there that you probably haven’t played yet, and therefore could offer a completely new experience?

Maybe it’s a bit for the nostalgia, and to relive some memories from playing a great game.

Anyway, I wish a lot of success Cory Balrog with directing the next God of War game! :D

The remastered versions is probably aimed at people who’re New to the PlayStation world, it’s a good idea so they don’t miss out on great games of ps3. I don’t believe anyone who owned ps3 and played the game is asking for a remaster, if anything they are bashing the remasters judging by the comments

You should release an epic God of War anthology on PS4, not just God of War III. The way I see it, GoW III gets the PS4 treatment because it’s not featured on the PS3 PSN Store due to its huge data size (as well as a few more games like Heavy Rain and Final Fantasy XIII).

Oh my God, seriously… Will you stop with all these ports.(hd remasters). If you wanted people to keep playing ps3 games you shouldn’t have made ps4 yet. Or better yet you should have made backwards compatible, but no Just out of pure greed you release the ps4 then instead of making new games designed for the ps4 you just keep porting ps3 games and slapping “hd remaster” on the cover to get people to buy it again. I’m seriously starting to regret ever buying a ps4, So far this past year and a half all we’ve had is ports and delays. “greatness awaits” well were done waiting. How about we get some that so called greatness already.

I recommend getting a PS Vita. I see you don’t have one, going by your trophy list.

Don’t believe what you read on the Internet, the PS Vita is amazing and one of the best PlayStation systems around.

Unlike with the PS4, they implemented a great backwards compatibility system on PS Vita and you can even download digital PSP games you previously purchased on a PSP. And you can remap the controls and add bilinear filtering to reduce the jaggies a bit.

Unlike the PS4, PS Vita had many great first-party games since the day it was released and after the first year it already had a nice catalog.

Unlike the PS4, it actually has a DLNA app, YouTube since day one, a messaging system that works and a customizeable user interface.

I hope you fix the cheese that many plat owners of ps3 vers had to use, one where you first beat it on normal, beat the challanges and do insane playthrough with infinite magic/health etc, can’t remember full deal but thankfully i did challanges last, before i knew about the cheese, as tbh, that opening and closing parts on hardest were really insane, got me pulling out my hair but the reward of beating it was nice, i hear there was also a way to ‘break’ game using challanges, as in when you first enter hades you had hercules’s gauntlets somehow and could smash the chains, at start of game, so, don’t want to see any cheesed plats this time please, thanks for bringing this to ps4, i know all three are wanted but the finale is very welcome, do me until GoW4.

Pretty weird decision to remaster only the third game in the series, and after watching the trailer it doesn’t really look that well. I’m really sad there’s still no news about GOW4, or any other interesting first party title that I can look forward to after finishing Bloodborne.

They did that for a Project Morpheus prototype game actually. God of War in first person. :P Could be fun.

To answer your topic, like most remasters from PS3 to PS4:

I think it’s mostly aimed at people that haven’t played the game on PS3 yet, but are already too invested in PS4 to go back to PS3. And for big fans of the God of War III that like to play their favourite games in the best possible way, with the best graphics possible.

And yes, I’m surprised by it as well, but whenever I see the PlayStation twitter account tweeting about a game that is only on PS3, you constantly see lots of people asking for it to be on PS4, so clearly there’s some demand.

Keep in mind that (iirc) 30-40% of the PS4 userbase didn’t have a PS3 before.

I agree, that they should have thought backwards compatibility better.

But to be fair, Mark Cerny and his team probably had to make a compromise somewhere when designing the PS4 hardware-wise:

– Retain the CELL CPU architecture from PS3 and make backwards compatible possible, but this means lots of work under the hood to optimize and program for PS4 like with the PS3. Also means a lot of R&D costs, which might lead to an expensive console.

– Go with x64-86 architecture

– Implement CELL CPU and RSX chip in every PS4 console to allow backwards compatibility. Unfortunately this would be a very challenging design to implement on a small motherboard and this would raise the production costs of PS4, which means more expensive PS4 console (€550-€600 probably)

It’s always a matter of compromising between costs, power/heat, and in this backwards compatibility as well.

Hopefully with PS5 they’ll keep x64-86 and implementing backwards compatbility with PS4 should be easier than PS4 with PS3.

I agree, that they should have thought backwards compatibility better.

But to be fair, Mark Cerny and his team probably had to make a compromise somewhere when designing the PS4 hardware-wise:

– Retain the CELL CPU architecture from PS3 and make backwards compatible possible, but this means lots of work under the hood to optimize and program for PS4 like with the PS3. Also means a lot of R&D costs, which might lead to an expensive console.

– Go with x64-86 architecture

– Implement CELL CPU and RSX chip in every PS4 console to allow backwards compatibility. Unfortunately this would be a very challenging design to implement on a small motherboard and this would raise the production costs of PS4, which means more expensive PS4 console (€550-€600 probably)

It’s always a matter of compromising between costs, power/heat, and in this backwards compatibility as well.

Hopefully with PS5 they’ll keep x64-86 and implementing backwards compatbility with PS4 should be easier than PS4 with PS3.

When people bought the PlayStation 4 they were probably expecting awesome ‘New’ (First Party) AAA games (I know I was), not ports of stuff they’ve probably already played last Generation. At this point Sony should really just call the console a PortStation. This just makes me believe that the PlayStation ‘4’ was actually rushed out just to beat competitors. Sony will be lucky if I even buy two AAA games on their platform this year because once again this year is looking really lacklustre.

How can you say “Can’t go wrong”?! You are aware that 2014 has been regarded as one of the worst years of developers failing to deliver on their hyped up promises, right? Last year there was games that got pumped out unfinished (Assassin’s Creed: Unity) or somehow managed to look worse than their début (Watch_Dogs) or was just so hyped to look like an action packed adventure only to be released as an extremely flat and boring ‘adventure’ (Titanfall and Destiny). Last year was the year Developers proved that they can go wrong and honestly giving them this little bubble of protection is probably the worst thing you can do.

I won’t lie, I want to know more about Alienation (especially after how much I’m enjoying Helldivers) but that is about all I think that looks slightly cool. And even then we haven’t nearly heard enough about it to say it’s gonna be ‘amazing’. But yes I spent lots of money to play a few small indie titles… That’s ‘totally’ justifiable.

To not include God of War: Ascension is fine, it’s a prequel that can sit outside of the main trilogy.

Failing to port the first two entries alongside this is an oversight. £40 for a 1080p 60FPS trilogy, ideally in stereoscopic 3D, is enormously enticing. £40 for the third entry that must sit alone on the PS4 is simply unappealing. As has already been said, it’s like releasing only the third film in a trilogy on Blu-ray.

I don’t mind companies using these remasters as an exercise to port their pipeline and engines over to new architecture, but I’m a bit dumbfounded that they continually think they’re worth full price with no discounts for owners of the originals.

So that s all we will have for christmas ? Remastered remastered and remastered? I suppose that until down and tearaway 1.5 will be avalable on september or october plus uncharted collection and yearrr that will be the supra hollyday 2015 line up! Just pathetic !

You do realise we are getting titles throughout the year while Xbox doesn’t have anything of note until late September. That is 6 months with nothing but small indie titles.

We had/haveThe Order last month,Bloodborne next week.Tropico 5 in April,Final Fantasy X/X2 HD in May,Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward in JuneGod of War 3 Remaster in July

Then other titles like FFVII, Broken Age, Tearaway Unfolded are all due in the Summer timeframe. Then there are the indie titles inbetween.

Christmas is an important time I agree but bunching up all the titles into a small window with the other Third Party publishers doing the same is not good on profits. Look at Sunset Overdrive for example, it was a sales flop and a hit for Insomniac.

As it stands I expect an Uncharted Collection and a Mass Effect Trilogy Collection and with Assassin’s Creed Victory I am sorted until Uncharted 4.